


Emergence

by Coffeetailor



Series: Emergence Series [1]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Macro/Micro, Size Difference, Will probably be a series, alternate canon events, borrowers fusion but don't call them borrowers, disturbing themes like people trafficking from the bad guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-03-02 17:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13322880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coffeetailor/pseuds/Coffeetailor
Summary: When the war ended, things went a little strange. First, Duo vanished after never having let them see him in person. Then, years later, a tiny race of people are discovered. And that's just the start of things.





	1. A Little Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So I've actually been puttering around with this idea for quite a long time and finally have started to get it written down. If all goes well, Emergence will become a series of fics following the boys. I hope you enjoy!

_“Hey guys, guess this is it. Sorry I couldn’t come out and do it in person, but… yeah. Gonna miss you a ton. And don’t worry, Quat, I’ll take good care of myself. Didn’t survive the OZies just to let myself get taken out by Bob rando or a cold or whatever. Wuffers! I already started chewing on that book list you sent me. Digital copies, I’m afraid. But hey, words should be the same, right? Tro, still gonna say go for it on Cathy’s invite. Take it from another lost little orphan, if I found a scrap of family who was ready and willing to put up with my shit? I’d jump for it. And Ro, man…. If things had been different. You go and do something that makes you happy, you hear me? Actually, that goes for all four of you. So, um, I guess that’s pretty much all I’ve got to say… Oh! One more thing. If there’s a big emergency and you need me, get in touch with Howie, okay? He knows how to reach me. Alright, that’s really it. You guys take care.” <<End of Video>>_

“If you hit replay again, I’m taking your phone, Yuy.”

Heero glared, caught with his finger halfway to the button before he moved it away. “I wasn’t.”

Quatre wasn’t convinced, concern painted all over his face as he looked at the other pilot. But Heero wasn’t about to budge, and at last the blond held his hand out for the phone. “Don’t do this to yourself. He’s alright. I know it.”

“Who is?” Heero snorted and shoved the device into his pocket, ignoring the other’s raised eyebrow. He would have to remember to hide the screen better next time. “I wasn’t worried. The idiot can do what he likes, wherever he wandered off to.”

“Hm.” Shaking his head, Quatre turned away to go back to his desk. “I think he’d be fascinated by all of this too.”

All of this being the changes that’d cropped up with the Preventers within the last year. Or, really, the last four years. But this time a year ago, they’d all been working separately with their own offices and missions. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa on high stakes missions striking down arms factories, militias, and preventing more than one planned assassination on the ESUN leaders. Quatre with his office work in the local Winner Corp building, only even occasionally consulting with the Preventers on specific cases.

But with the number of those cases going down and, quite honestly, the competency of Une’s other agents going up, there’d been some restructuring. A new task force led by the four of them. It’d been an important change, and a good one.

As for their fifth member, well… no one had heard from Duo since the end of the war, except for an all-too-brief return during Dekim Barton’s revolt. Quatre’s space heart told him that Duo was still alive, but none of their resources had been able to track him down. Even Heero’s.

Which was something that _still_ made the otherwise stoic pilot twitch. Not that he would admit to it, even as his phone burned a hole in his pocket as he likewise headed to his desk. They’d all received the video the day after Duo had vanished initially, almost five years ago. Heero didn’t know how many times he’d watched it since.

Heero hadn’t quite made it to his desk when Wufei stepped into the shared office, carrying a stack of folders and the case for a data chip in his hands. He held a folder out to each of them, sticking the chip into the projector to load up. “We have a new mission,” he said, face grim. “Our sources have pinned down the main base of operations for the 'Lenders' ring. An estimated twenty Ariettes in their possession at this time.”

“A tidy combination of merchandise and hostages,” Trowa remarked softly, frowning. “But if we can shut them down at the source, we can get their customer list.”

“And have a much larger number of victims retrievable. It’s going to need to be a careful operation,” Wufei said, nodding. “Which is why Une’s informed me we’ll be working with an additional lead.”

Heero looked up from his folder. “Who?” They’d never needed anyone else on the team. The four of them and their carefully selected backup agents had always been enough. And half the time _those_  had been Maguanacs who’d joined up when Quatre went full time.

“I wasn’t given a name.” Wufei put his folder down, lips pressed together. “But apparently the Emergence Council’s decided that they want to have a liaison agent working with us. So all I know so far is that he’s an Ariette.”

That… was going to make things complicated.

A year ago, a new discovery had hit the news and shocked the world. A secondary, human-like species, fully sapient with language, culture, history, and fear. Lots of fear. Then again, that was understandable when they seemed to top out at six inches tall and had survived through hiding from Earth’s top predator, human beings, who promptly captured and caged the first group found. And it’d only spread from there, more pocket populations found all over both earth and the colonies.

From there, it had taken a blessedly short time for the ESUN government to determine that these new people, no threat to the peace, deserved the same rights and protections as humans. The captured ones were freed with apologies and sent home with multiple copies of a letter of peace for their leaders. _Unfortunately_ , it’d been almost immediately followed by their first known case of a tiny person being _sold_ in the black market. And only after their rescue and the capture of seller and purchaser both had their governments made first official contact.

Or, rather, Relena had been contacted, specifically. Whatever they knew about the Sanq royal, she had apparently made an impression on them. And through that point of contact, they’d learned a lot about these new people.

They called themselves the Ariette Peoples. It was a new name, voted into being by an equally new council government. Until the ‘disaster of discovery,’ they had not had a centralized government of their own, or much of any at all, and many regions had their own, local names for themselves. They’d named their council the Emergence Council after their actions of coming out of hiding, willingly or otherwise. And it’d been one complication after the next since then.

Many Ariettes lived in places considered by humans as private property, and not all were willing to share with uninvited tenants. They didn’t even have a total on how many families, villages, were being relocated for their safety while the laws on the issue were decided. And then there were those who saw the chance for profit, no matter how many laws they broke and no matter who suffered for it. The Lenders ring was one such group of people who dealt in Ariette slavery, kidnapping the vulnerable people and selling them as exotic pets and worse to those willing to pay.

That had been the inspiration for the taskforce they operated now. Their fellow agents could handle the regular work of the Preventers. THEY were experts in getting into places with delicate care, taking what they needed—or who—and getting out. And Quatre’s empathy had truly come into good use in finding the terrified Ariettes so they could be extracted and soothing those needing relocation.

But, they’d never had an Ariette actually working with the Preventers. Until now.

“I don’t like it,” Heero said flatly. “We’ll have enough hostages without bringing an unknown extra to have to look after.”

“We don’t have any say in the matter,” Wufei said, looking at it. “It comes from higher up. He’s in.”

“Where is he then?” Quatre asked, blinking. “He should be here for the mission planning.”

“Supposedly, he could be here ‘soon.’ That’s all I know.” Shaking his head, Wufei switched on the projector with the location details. “We’ll get him caught up when he arrives. Now, we’ve managed to get hold of the building layout—”

“Quatre, is something wrong?”

Heero glanced over to the blond at Trowa’s quiet question. Quatre’s face was fixed in a small frown, a hand rubbing over his chest.

Seeing the eyes on him, Quatre quickly dropped his hand. “I’m fine. Sorry. Wufei, you can keep going. It just feels like—”

 _RING_.

Heero glared at the phone on the desk, WILLING it to go silent. “Ignore it,” he said, turning back to the projection. Whatever it was, it could wait. But the phone had different ideas.

 _RING_.

 _RING_.

Motioning for them to wait a moment, Wufei picked up the phone to answer. “Chang.” Immediately, his eyes went wide. “Maxwell? Where—”

 _Duo_?! Heero all but lunged forward to snatch the phone from the other man, pressing it to his ear. “Where are you?” he demanded without preamble.

“Haha, nice to talk to you too, Ro. Glad to hear you’ve missed me,” Duo’s voice, that painfully familiar voice, said from the other end of the line. “How’re you doing?”

“Duo, where are you?” Heero repeated through gritted teeth, glaring at the phone mount as if it was at fault for Duo’s evasion.

The voice laughed softly, and Heero could almost see that smiling face he’d only ever seen on a screen. “I’m not too far away. In fact, tell Quatre I said hi, okay?”

Quatre? Slowly, Heero turned to face the empath. Quatre didn’t look back at him, however. No, instead he was staring up towards the upper corner of the room. Where there was an air vent.

“Don’t move an inch,” Heero said sharply before handing the phone back to Wufei. The vent was too high to reach, so he grabbed a chair and brought it below the vent to climb up onto. Immediately, he saw a flicker of movement. The pilot squinted his eyes to see inside better and went still.

Violet eyes watched him from the shadows on the other side of the vent, sparkling with mischief just like he remembered. It was unquestionably Duo, sitting here so close after they’d searched for him for so long. And as he stood up, he was only as tall as Heero’s hand was long.

“Hey there,” Duo said with a small, stepping forward so miniature fingers could slide out between the vent slats. “Hear you guys were waiting for me.”

Duo Maxwell, pilot 02 of Deathscythe, was their Ariette liaison.


	2. Not as Pictured

Heero just stared at the tiny former pilot, hand twitching as he barely stopped himself from automatically going to grab him before remembering that the vent cover stood defiantly between them. Knowing Duo (even though he apparently didn’t know as much as he'd thought he had), that could very well have been a deliberate factor in his plan.

"Screwdriver," he said abruptly, turning away from Duo to look around like he expected there to be one instantly available. Of course, in an office, there were no conveniently arranged toolboxes to be found. Damn.

"You know, Heero, I could just go around and meet you outside," Duo offered with a little snicker, seeing that annoyance and frustration in Heero's face. He'd talked to him through the vid-screen often enough to know those subtle expressions. Including the fresh one determination he was giving him now. "Um, Ro?"

"Stay _right_ there," the stern Japanese agent said, his eyes narrowing. And he reached for the vent, fingertips grasping it tightly.

 _Oh hell, don't tell me he's gonna--_  Duo's thoughts were interrupted as metal screeched, bending under Heero's strength. The Ariette felt a cold chill run down his spine at the display of the raw power that existed in those hands. He'd seen it once before, but that had just been on video. Seeing it right in front of him was another matter! And more than a little terrifying.

Duo didn't even realize he'd taken a step back before those eyes locked onto him again, this time without any barrier between them. He froze, heart pounding in his chest.

This reunion was something he'd been thinking about, planning for, and psyching himself up for since their exposure. It didn't take a genius to figure out that his people would need someone who could work with humans in dangerous situations. Even better, someone who already HAD. Even if the humans involved hadn't really known that part. He had already been on his way to the city the council contacted him to ask.

But for all of his day dreaming, his nerves were still being cranked up to at least a seven. Maybe an eight. And then those metal bending hands reached in and wrapped around him. Fuck eight, this was twelve territory!

"H-hey!" he shouted as Heero pulled him out of the vent. "Put me down!"

"Heero!" Quatre scolded. Good ol' Cat. Sure, he was just as big as Heero and had probably come closer than anyone to discovering his secret in the war, but the kid had a sensible head on his shoulders. Even if that space heart of his had scared the _shit_ out of him during the war.

Too bad Heero wasn't in the mood to listen to their blondie leader. He stepped down from the stool, holding Duo up to eye level. The hand wasn't exactly squeezing, but his arms were held firmly against his sides. And no amount of wiggling was changing that.

"Where have you been?" Heero demanded. He modulated his voice for Duo's ears, but only just barely. It still made Duo cringe. Though... that might have been that trademark deathglare billboard size and three inches away. "Do you know how wor- Why didn't you tell us you were an Ariette?"

"I've been working, same as you!" Duo retorted. Maybe giving a human who could bend steel with the very hand holding him lip wasn't the best idea in the world, but no one said he was rich in self-preservation instincts. He'd never have piloted if he'd had _those_. "And why do you think I never told you? Until a bunch of your guys got grabby, you weren't _supposed_ to know I existed! I was breaking a shit ton of rules as it is! And we didn't really have time for 'surprise, there's another species out there!'"

The glare didn't warm up any, nor did the pounding of his heart slow down. This was really NOT how he'd figured things would go today. Fuck.

Duo took a deep breath. "Look, what use would I have been if I'd stuck around before this mess anyway? Some pampered pet shacking up with you guys in secret? No fucking thank you. And would you have trusted my abilities in the war if you'd known?"

"Heero," Quatre said softly, putting a hand on Heero's shoulder as he came to Duo's rescue. They met eyes briefly, giving away in a glance that the blond saw right through the tiny agent's act to just how nervous he was. "Let's give Duo some room to breathe. I'm certain he had some good reasons for leaving when he did. And we've all had secrets."

He held a hand out to Heero, an edge of steel under gentle blue that Duo know all too well. That was an order. And, with some reluctance, one Heero obeyed, relaxing his grip so Duo could wiggle out of his hand to drop the short distance to Quatre's open palm. However his weird voodoo powers worked, Duo hoped he could feel that wash of relieved gratitude. Especially when the blond brought him over to one of the desks instead of just continuing to hold him.

Being handled a lot was something that was going to take TIME to get used to. And being grabbed by angry humans, friends, crushes, or comrades, or otherwise, wasn’t going to help. It was bad enough having all four of them looking at him.

Duo rubbed the back of his neck, trying to hide his sudden burst of nerves. At least from those without psychic abilities. “Hey. Long time no see,” he said, turning around to see them all. Didn’t have the decency to be on the same side of him. Of course not. “Looks like I’m the only one who skipped his growth spurt. Knew I should have drunk more milk.”

“Somehow, I’m not sure if that would have helped all that much,” Wufei said with a small smirk, raising an eyebrow as he looked down at him. “We could have dipped you in it, however…”

“Hardy ha ha. Try it and I’ll kick you in the toes, Chang,” Duo said dryly, ready to fall back into old habits if they let him. As long as Wufei never tried to carry out any of the old threats he’d made during the war. “By the way, I’m going to need more book recs. Your list was too short.”

The Chinese pilot snorted softly, nodding. “I’ll put something together.”

“It’s good to see you, Duo,” Trowa said, studying him quietly and inclining his head. “Perhaps we should attend to the mission before catching up.”

“Heh, yeah, good idea.” Anything to get all of the attention off of him. He’d get used to it… eventually. “I listened in a bit before Cat found me, so no need to catch me up, Wuffers.”

“Wu _fei_ ,” he corrected with a huff, turning back to the projection. “We managed to get an agent inside about a week ago. Barton, you weren’t sent because some of their people may have had Barton Foundation ties and could have recognized you. Une didn’t want to risk losing the element of surprise or for them to pack up shop and move to a new location. Our agent managed to provide a current building schematic for us, as you see here.”

“What about access codes?” Heero asked, slowly looking away from Duo to properly focus on the mission at hand. Already, he was memorizing the layout and multiple potential exit routes in case things didn’t go to plan.

“We’re still waiting on those.” Wufei shook his head. “It’s taking some time to gain the full trust of the organization, but the agent will send us more information as soon as he’s able to. In the meantime, we can prepare to move the moment we have enough to go on.”

Duo frowned, stomach twisting. Yeah, he understood that running in without enough intel was going to be suicide. But at the same time… Every day they waited was another day that the people they’d kidnapped had to sit in cages, knowing they could be sold at any time. Where they’d be harder to rescue. He didn’t like it.

“As the plan stands, Barton will take point and ideally disable the entry alarms before their security can be alerted,” Wufei said, using a laser pointer to indicate the locations he meant. “Yuy and I will follow to start clearing the way. We’ll need to get to the control room as quickly as possible and take out anyone inside. It’s going to involve working around to the other side of the main offices, so maximum stealth will be of utmost importance. They have someone there twenty-four hours a day. Once Yuy disables their systems and cuts them off, we can clear the rest of the way to the holding rooms for Winner and Maxwell—”

“Hang on,” Duo said, interrupting. “Why am I on the back end? We’ve got a direct route to the control room right there.” He pointed up at the faint outline on the projected image. “And I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t think you four are gonna fit.”

Heero frowned. “That’s an air conditioning shaft. It wouldn’t be safe.”

The Ariette rolled his eyes. “You mean like the one I got HERE through? How do you think I traveled through Ozie bases anyway? It wasn’t darting from flower pot to flower pot down on the floor through the hallways or clinging to the ceiling like some permanently miniature Antman. I know how to disable a fan.”

“It’s still too dangerous,” Heero said firmly. “You wouldn’t have any backup. We don’t need another person to rescue. Stick with Quatre.”

“Ro, if you think I’m going to be some kind of pet mascot, you’ve got another thing coming.” Duo folded his arms over his chest, meeting the glare the other pilot leveled at him full on. He wasn’t backing down. “These are my people. I’ll hop in with Quatre _after_ I get the rest of you guys in.”

Quatre looked between them, biting his lip. “If Duo can get directly to the control room, it _could_ reduce our chances of detection.”

“And raise the chances of Maxwell getting himself killed,” Heero snapped. “We haven’t worked with you directly before. It’s not the time for you to strike out on your own and _hope_ we know when to rescue you.”

Duo bristled. “Oh fuck you, Yuy. I handled myself just fine in the war and did just fine after. Fei, you seem to be running this show. What do you think?”

“You did quite a bit of base infiltration during the war,” Wufei said slowly after a period of silence. “I would say you’ve proven your merit. If Une gives her approved to the change of plan, I’ll support it.”

“Great. So, waiting on more info from here, right?” Duo asked, pointedly ignoring the outright growl behind him. “Cause I’ve been told to check in with the boss lady and the doc before lunch and we’re coming up on that pretty soon if I’m reading that clock and my stomach right.”

“Hn.”

When Heero reached to grab him again, Duo was NOT having it. He jumped back away from the giant hand. “Oi! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting you to Une’s office without being stepped on,” Heero said flatly, frowning with an annoyed expression that said that should have been obvious.

“Hell no, I’m not going anywhere with mister grabby,” Duo said with a scowl of his own. “Did you guys get NO training about working with Ariettes? Because if not I feel sorry for the people you’ve been sent out to help. Might as well cuff us and call it good.”

“I—”

“I have to take the preliminary plans to Une,” Wufei said, interrupting Heero before he could argue further. He offered an open palm to the tiny man. “I could deliver you, if you don’t mind the help.”

Well, that was an easy decision. Duo turned about face and climbed up onto Wufei’s hand, sitting down. “Lead the way, Fei. Since you actually know how to _ask_.”

Wufei shook his head, grabbing his notes with the other hand and stepping out of the office with them both.

The moment the door swung shut behind them and Duo was safely out of the line of fire, Quatre rounded on Heero, demeanor instantly changed. “What the _hell_ was that about, Yuy?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Heero said, going stone faced as he turned back to his desk to get more work done in preparation. Or, at least, he tried. Quatre’s hand slammed down on the briefing folder as Heero went to open it and he was forced to look up into a pair of angry aquamarine eyes.

“We have been trying to track Duo down for years in the optimistic hope that he might join us again, as our friend even if not on the team. YOU have been pining after him like a rejected schoolboy,” Quatre growled. Somehow, the contrast to his usual attitude just made it all the more terrifying. “And the minute he actually shows up on his own, you treat him like some sort of dead weight pariah! Do you want him to leave again?!”

“He can’t. He’s on a diplomatic assignment,” Heero said with a snort, ignoring the way his stomach twisted.

“That’s a bullshit answer and you know it,” the blond growled, leaning over him with a glare. “Duo hid from us. Even if we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for, he can hide from us and he can certainly hide from them. And more importantly, do you want him to _want_ to leave?”

“…no.” Heero didn’t look up, staring at his blank computer screen like it would reveal all the answers.

“Then I suggest you shape up and act like it before he decides to regret ever coming here.” Scolding delivered, Quatre swept back to his desk to grab his tea mug before storming from the office to cool down.

Sighing slowly, Heero looked over to Trowa to see if the clown was going to yell at him too, but he just looked back with a raised eyebrow. Which, Heero assumed, pretty much meant the same thing in this instance. He sighed. This hadn’t gone at all like he’d thought.

As for Duo, his temper had wilted once he and Wufei were out of the room. If not entirely. His shoulders slumped, glancing up when the other man brought his hand up to his shoulder, letting Duo climb over. At least SOMEONE had paid attention to the quick reference pamphlet the council had had put together. Number one being _do not_  pick them up without current permission outside of an immediate emergency.

“He hates me,” Duo said abruptly, a hand on the collar of Wufei’s uniform shirt. “Jerk. He knows how much the secret was important to folk like me by now, right? Of course I couldn’t just come out and tell you guys. Besides, if he’d been as much of an asshole about doubting my abilities THEN as he apparently decided to be today, I wouldn’t have been able to get nearly as much done then as I did.”

“It _has_ been a while since the discovery,” Wufei said mildly, keeping his voice soft so it wouldn’t carry as they stepped out into one of the main hallways where there were other agents going to and from.

Duo felt the eyes wandering his way too. How could he not, when he’d had the instinct to hide drilled into him since as long as he could remember. He gritted his teeth. If he was going to keep working with the Preventers, he was going to have to get used to being stared at. It was just going to be inevitable. Just like dealing with Heero and whatever stick he’d gotten stuck up his ass since the last time they’d talked.

“It didn’t seem like the right time,” Duo said lamely, recognizing the excuse to be as flimsy as it was. “And I’ve been busy on my own side of things. Helping folk out and running supplies, you know? There are a lot of scared people who aren’t ready to deal with exposure yet.”

“Which was why the Emergence Council sent you,” Wufei surmised, glancing sideways at him. The L5 pilot was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that one of their own had been an Ariette all along. He wondered if O had known. G certainly must have, if he built a suit that could be piloted by someone Duo’s size. To say nothing of Duo’s strange shirt wearing ally, Howard.

“Well, not me specifically, but it’s on the list of why they wanted an agent in general,” Duo admitted. “Also to keep an eye on you guys. Ain’t a secret either. Pretty sure it’s in the emails they sent Une.”

Wufei laughed softly. “And I thought Trowa was the only one who could get away with spying on Une with her full knowledge.”

“Heh.” Duo shook his head. “Anyway, the reason they wanted ME was because I’ve already dealt with you guys. I guess I’ve built up something of a reputation for being a daredevil nutjob. Not entirely wrong, I guess. Besides, who better to face the dragon lady than a guy who escaped execution from the middle of her base when she had my buddy on twenty-four-hour watch?”

“Well, you won’t have your suit this time, I’m afraid,” Wufei said, stopping in front of a solid wood door. “We’re here.”

When he knocked on the door, the sound barely drowned out Duo’s suddenly pounding heart. Sure, he didn’t realistically expect her to try and execute him properly this time, but tell that to his nerves. He coughed, straightening his back. He could do this.

 


	3. Meetings and Tensions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm back! Brain problems have been kicking my butt, but I'm smacking them back now so hopefully there should be more coming up soon!
> 
> Edit: Now with the whole chapter. How did I miss that half of it was missing?

Duo would have loved to deny how nervous he felt as Wufei knocked on Une’s door, but that would have been lying to himself, and he damn well knew it. This was going to be fine.

Besides, unless she’d spied on the others, no one should have told her who he was, on his request. So he had the element of surprise. He hoped.

“Come in,” she called, voice not particularly loud yet cutting right through the wood regardless. And damn did it still have that Colonel edge to it. No wonder the guys followed her orders.

Wufei pulled the door open and stepped inside, letting it swing shut behind them. Une herself sat behind a large desk that dominated the room, writing notes among the many stacks of printed out documents of unknown importance. It was funny, seeing her for real. Even if Duo had seen her on the television since the war, he had half expected her to still look like the fearsome OZ officer, glasses, braids, uniform and all. They were, of course, nowhere to be seen.

Une only half glanced up from her desk, spotting Wufei but apparently missing Duo. “Chang. What do you need?”

“Our Ariette liaison agent has arrived,” Wufei said, cheek twitching as he tried not to smile.

That, at least, made her stop writing, capping her pen and clearing the surface of her desk. “Good. Send them in if-“ Une glanced up finally, pausing as her eyes quickly refocused from Wufei to the tiny figure on his shoulder. The familiar figure. “Ah. 02. I should have known.”

“Hey, long time no see,” Duo said, putting a big grin on as he waved from Wufei’s shoulder. He wondered if he could just stay up there for the whole meeting. Maybe? “Like what you’ve done with your hair.”

“And I like that I’m finally getting to see you in person,” Une said with a raised eyebrow. “I assume that your people know your history if they sent you to us.”

Duo nodded, holding onto the collar of Wufei’s shirt tightly when the other pilot moved to sit in the chair waiting on their side of the desk. He could have cursed when Wufei offered him a hand down, something he couldn’t refuse without it being really obvious that he was nervous and like hell was he going to let anyone say he was scared of Une. So he huffed softly and accepted the ride down to the desktop.

“Yeah, they know,” Duo said, walking over to a stapler to sit down. “Hard not to, when you guys plastered my face on the evening news back on the day. We’ve got access to human media too.”

“So I’ve heard.” Une smirked slightly. “Though at least now I know how you kept evading our searches. Our men wouldn’t have thought to look in the walls and under the floors. If we’d known about the Ariette people then, I think the war would have been very different.”

“Well then, good thing you didn’t. Would have hated to have lost my trump card,” Duo said with a snort. He waved the idea away with a hand. “So, current events. My government talked to your government, they sent me, and I’m here. The guys briefed me on the mission we’ve got coming up, but what else is next?”

The Preventer commander opened up a drawer, pulling out a few sheets of printed paper. “Next, you’ll be going through a suitably modified version of what your fellow agents have upon entry. Obviously, we can skip a number of the physical tests, as we did for your former comrades and many of our former OZ and Alliance members, but you will of course still have to meet with Dr. Po for a medical exam. All agents get checked out on entry and after any injuries. Failing that, once a year. No exceptions. You will also be fitted with a few sets of uniforms once we can arrange for a suitable tailor. Likely after this mission, considering the circumstances. I have a list of forms for you to fill out as well.” She caught his look and shook her head. “They only need to be  _signed_ by hand. The rest can be done digitally. My clerks would likely go on strike if they have to read any more Ariette writing than needed. And finally, there is the issue of your accommodations.”

“Yeah, figured that would come up,” Duo said, making a face at the idea of a uniform. It had better not be some stiff doll outfit or he was going to burn it. And dump the remains into her coffee cup. “I usually just find some place to camp out or a friendly local to crash with, but that’s pretty short term. Heard you’ve got some Ariette housing being built in town.”

“Unfortunately, they won’t be completed for another year, if all goes according to plans,” Une said, shaking her head. “Winner knows the most about the project if you want details. His family is funding this particular location. Until then, or until you find something else suitable for long-term residency, I can offer a secure room here in headquarters.”

“What, in an unused office or something?” Duo asked, blinking. To tell the truth, he hadn’t really thought too much about it. He rarely ever stayed in one place for an extended amount of time at once.

Une nodded. “I had thought one down near the labs. They’re the most well-guarded. Alternatively, I can offer an area in mine, if you don’t mind the early mornings. Your safety is my responsibility according to our various governments.”

“Pretty sure my safety is my job, but I get it. Off mission and all that,” Duo said with a snort. At least she wasn’t trying to keep him from actually going on the missions. Would kind of defeat the point of him being there in the first place. “Labs creep me out, so I guess we’ll do timeshare on the office. Even if it nixes sleeping in the buff.”

“Maxwell!” Wufei scolded, and Duo looked back in time to see his cheeks going delightfully pink. Heh, obviously some things had never changed.

Une, on the other hand, looked like she was trying to hide a smile. “I would appreciate that. On a more serious note, we can’t ignore that you are vulnerable while you are living out in the open. And while I’m well aware that assigning a guard to you would be an exercise in futility, I do want to make it very clear that we take the abuse of power very seriously here, physical included. So if you find anyone harassing you due to your size, or threatening you, I want to know immediately, before things are allowed to escalate. Do you understand?”

“Yes Mom,” Duo quipped without skipping a beat as he digested the statement. Official protection from humans by humans? Would take some time to get used to. Sure, Howard had once pushed a Sweeper overboard when he’d gotten handsy, but that was Howard. Guy was practically family. Then again, that was kind of the thing he was here to help out with, wasn’t it? “I’ll tell if the other kids start picking on me, promise.”

She nodded, exhaling through her nose with amusement. “Good. Should this project prove successful, we may have more Ariette agents joining in the future, so laying a behavioral foundation from the start can only benefit us. On that note, when you have time, I would appreciate some reports on things that would make our base more integrated, so it could be used as a template moving forward.”

“Well, a way around that doesn’t involve risking trampling, being carried, or going through the vents would be a nice place to start,” Duo said, thinking about it. “And my own desk.”

“We’ll get some plans drawn up for the first,” the commander said, nodding. “The desk, you should have by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

“Really? Cool!” Duo supposed it made sense that they’d have some things ready to go for him. They knew that the council was sending someone, just not who. And a desk didn’t need fitting like a uniform did. “It’s going to have real drawers, right? Not just those fake fronts you see on doll furniture, right?”

Une chuckled, the corner of her mouth twitching in a small smile. “We’ll save the doll furniture for things that don’t need moving parts.” She fished a small flash drive from her desk to offer to him. “Your paperwork. I’ll need it as soon as possible. It also contains some medical history forms that Po will go over with you. Was there anything else, gentlemen?”

“One thing,” Wufei said, speaking up now that they were done. He offered her his folder with the notes. “We’ve made a few adjustments to the mission plan, for your approval.”

Duo ducked down automatically as the folder was passed over his head, watching Une to see what she’d say about the changes. As much as he hated to admit it, he did need her to give the okay considering that it required participation from the others. So she’d better not be thinking along the same lines as Heero. And, well, then his plan would be fucked.

The woman took her time looking over Wufei’s notes, reading through every page carefully and checking out the notes he’d added to the printed version of the layout. When she was done, she fixed her eyes on Duo. “You can handle this?”

“Yeah, I can,” Duo said with a nod, swallowing under that calculating stare. “Did it to you guys a couple times back in the day. Probably only going to work so many times before crooks wise up about it, so should use it on the real important ones.”

“Hm, you may have a point there. Once word gets out that we have one of your kind working directly with us,” Une said slowly, thinking it over. “Very well. But if things don’t go according to plan, call for backup. No matter what your pride says. We’ll have a portable communicator that can connect to the others before you leave. If there’s nothing else, I believe Dr. Po is waiting for you.”

Duo tossed her a casual salute, grinning now that he had that approval. So Heero could just stuff his attitude and deal with it. “I’ll snitch your email from the other guys to send you the forms when I’m done.”

“Just print them and have a gofer bring them around,” Une said, leaning back in her chair. “I need them signed, don’t forget. Dismissed.”

Getting to his feet, Wufei once again offered Duo an open palm. The Ariette dropped the drive into it before climbing up himself. “Keep hold of that for me, will ya? Don’t think it’s going to fit in my pockets and my bag’s full of gear.”

“And not here,” Wufei added with a nod. He carefully delivered Duo to his shoulder once more before dropping the drive into his shirt pocket. With a nod to Une, he headed back out of the office with his tiny passenger along for the ride.

“So, speaking of the doc, she’s that lady you hung out with back in the war, right?” Duo asked casually, in part because he was curious and in part so he wouldn’t focus too hard on the idea of being poked and prodded by someone who knew just how to take him apart. Not saying she would, obviously, but human doctors and scientists were rarely on your side in the stories they’d passed around when he was a kid. Plus, he’d been able to spot a crush like that a mile away, even on video. “Asked her out yet?”

While he didn’t get the response he’d actually been hoping for, Wufei did huff in flustered annoyance. “No, and I don’t plan to. We don’t have that sort of relationship. And we don’t want it. She’s a good friend, even when she’s being the mother hen from hell.”

Duo snickered. “That bad, huh?” Then again, from what he remembered of Wufei’s habits, he could probably use someone to look after him. Gods knew there were times that he’d been tempted to use Deathscythe to just pin him in place and keep him out of trouble. The Ariette was kind of glad he never had, however, with how easy it’d be for Wufei to return the favor now. Really easy. “That’s good mother-henning, right? Eat your vegetables, put down the explosives type? Not tie you up in her basement to keep you safe type.”

“Where do you get these ideas?” Wufei asked, staring at him sideways as they got into the elevator with a very startled junior agent, going by the uniform. He stared very obviously at Duo until Wufei coughed pointedly, making the agent jump and quickly turn away to stare at the wall instead.

Duo covered a snicker. Sure, he’d probably need to go around and meet people around HQ eventually, but that could wait until later. Until then, at least he knew someone had his back. Someones. He had a feeling that even with a stick up his ass like it was now, Heero would still watch his back.

If just so he could say ‘I told you so.’

“So…” he said casually, watching the floors go by above the door, “I don’t suppose you have anything else you have to do after dropping me off with the doc.”

Wufei waited for their nervous companion to slip out at his floor before he responded. “I can wait around. But you can trust Po. I trust her with my life. And it saves me another trip here to pick you up when you’re finished.”

Duo could have melted with how relieved he felt that Wufei had gotten the hint. Even if Wufei trusted Sally, and even if she’d seemed pretty nice the one or two times they’d talked over the comm during Mariemeia’s uprising, she was still a human doctor. And that was just more than a little worrying in Duo’s books. More-so than meeting someone who had actively tried to kill him just a couple years ago. He patted the side of Wufei’s neck to make his silent gratitude clear as the elevator dinged one more time, the doors opening up to the medical level.

Feeling the tiny figure on his shoulder tensing up, Wufei automatically reached up to hold him near his chest instead as a surge of protectiveness rose up. Not, of course, that he would ever say such a thing. Duo would probably bite him. And Duo had done too much to be treated like a helpless child now.

Sally was waiting for them when they arrived, the high precision tools she’d collected since the Preventers started working on Ariette cases laid out on a tray. She offered their newest agent a smile, staying seated. “Duo. It’s good to see you again.”

“You say that now, but I’m a notoriously difficult patient,” Duo said, looking past Wufei’s fingers at the tools lined up. Not a scalpel to be seen, so far so good. No tape dispensers either, not over by the exam table. “Une told you we were coming?”

“Probably to make sure you actually made it here,” Sally said with a chuckle. She motioned them over. “And don’t worry, I’ve dealt with difficult Ariette patients before. The boys love to bring me prickly cases. To distract from their own post mission exams, I suspect.”

Wufei snorted. “You’re the only Preventer doctor with any familiarity with them. It makes sense to bring rescued Ariettes to you.”

“That wasn’t a denial,” Sally said, eyes sparkling. Duo had to cover a smile. Okay, doctor or not, he remembered why he’d liked this woman. Especially when she made Wufei get huffy.

Still, he had to take a deep breath before he waved up at Wufei to get his attention. “Hey, put me down on the table. I think I’m ready to get this thing started. So, Doc, where are we starting?”

To Sally’s credit, she’d definitely learned how to handle Ariette patients with minimum actual handling. And by the end of the appointment, Duo was laughing and relaxed. Wufei, on the other hand, looked like he was starting to regret volunteering to stay with him. Or, for that matter, letting them be in the same room as each other.

"Well, good news. I don't see anything that'll keep you from running off and being reckless as usual," Sally said, moving away from her laptop. "You iron looks a little low from what I've seen of Ariette levels, so try to amp up on your green vegetables if you can."

"That can be easier said than go," Duo said with a snort, rubbing his arm where she’d given him a good poke with the smallest preemie needle they had. Which was still pretty big for him. "I'll see what I can do. Knowing this lot-" He jerked a thumb back in Wufei's direction. "-they'll have a meal plan set up for me before we finish lunch. My mother hen alarm has been going off since I got here."

Wufei huffed, not about to admit the fact that he'd been thinking about pretty much just that, along with adjustments to field medicine technique. Clearly, they woud have to find a middle ground between helping him and driving him away.

"If you have trouble getting the nutrition you need, then I would suggest you let them," Sally said, shaking her head with a smile. "But I imagine once you're better settled you'll have an easier chance at it."

"Yeah, yeah," Duo said, waving the suggestion off before looking up at her with a grin. "So, does that mean we're done? Cause I've gotta say, I'm starving. Promise I'll even grab some fruit and healthy stuff."

"Go on, get out of here and see that you do," Sally said with a laugh, offering him a finger to shake. "It's been a pleasure chatting with you, Duo. I hope we get a chance to chat again before the next time you're my patient."

"Sure, we'll do lunch some day," he promised cheekily. Duo turned back to Wufei and climbed up onto the hand that the other pilot was already holding out flat for him. "So, food?"

Wufei got to his feet before delivering Duo up to his shoulder again with a careful nod. He didn't want to knock him back down, not from that height. It'd be far too easy for someone Duo's size to get hurt in a fall, and even Sally's experienced hands would only help them so much in patching him back up. A little tug at the hairs by his ears brought his attention back to the hungry Ariette. "We'll pick something up from the cafeteria and take it back to the office. Most of us usually eat in there."

"Does Heero?" Duo asked as they headed out of the clinic room and back towards the elevator. Sure, he'd cheered up since his outburst earlier, but he wanted to actually hold onto that better mood and not have soldier boy growl at him again. He hadn't forgiven him yet either.

"Typically," Wufei said with a glance at the figure on his shoulder. "I doubt he'll bother you this time."

"Why's that?" Duo grumbled. So maybe he didn't have much faith in his old partner's ability to pick up on cues right now. Sure hadn't earlier.

Wufei smirked, hitting the button for their floor. "A feeling."

"Right," Duo said skeptically. But Wufei had been spending a lot more time with the guy than he had, so he'd take his word until he saw evidence otherwise, he supposed.

The tiny man went quiet the rest of the way to the cafeteria, keeping still except to wave to a couple agents who spotted him, their eyes going wide. He guessed that even now that humans knew about them, and the Preventers did rescue and relocation cases, they probably still weren't common sights around.

“Want to bet I get even more double takes once I’ve got my uniform?” he joked against Wufei’s ear as they headed into the noisy cafeteria. He needed something to distract him from the sheer number of humans around, thankful that most of them seemed wrapped up in their own lunches and conversations. “Hope Une-babe sends out a memo or something so they know it’s not a costume. Don’t want mistaken for a mascot.”

“The fact that you’re working with us will get around eventually regardless of whether she does or not,” Wufei said, only twitching a little at the nickname Duo used for their well feared commander. “And don’t call her that to her face.”

“What, Une-babe? What’s she gonna do, put me on latrine duty?” Duo asked, snickering. “It’d only take me a year to do the floor.”

“She can give you more paperwork.”

“Ouch. Cruel and unusual punishment, that one.”

As they got in the line for their food, Duo tried to keep his gawking to a minimum to save himself from embarrassment. As an Ariette, he’d never been able to just go to a diner or a buffet and grab as much food as he wanted. Sure, he’d been well fed whenever he visited Howard, but there still hadn’t been just this much food, all hot and ready and there for the taking.

“Something wrong?” Wufei asked softly, noticing the way Duo had gone quiet again.

Duo swallowed. “No, nothing. It’s just… I’m not used to seeing so much food in one place.”

Wufei glanced sideways at the other pilot. Ah. “Do you see something you want?”

“There’s so many choices! Maybe… one of the croissants?” Duo said, looking up and down the line. “I’ve never had a fresh one, and they always smell really good. And… maybe a pudding cup? We can share them, ‘cause obviously I can’t eat a whole one of either. If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.” Wufei hid a smile as he loaded up his tray with his usual plus the requested items. “You can pick something else tomorrow.”

Duo grinned, leaning against his neck. “You’re the best, Fei.”

Wufei’s cheeks warmed up and he didn’t give a response to that, embarrassed. Once they’d gotten everything, he headed back towards their shared office.

Heero wasn’t there when they got back, but the other two were. Quatre sipping from a small, handless cup while Trowa’s standard issue coffee cup was already empty on the desk. The blond smiled as they entered, giving them a cheerful wave.

“How did it go?” he asked as Wufei put the tray down on his desk, letting Duo down next to it.

“Well, I’m still in one piece. Une didn’t try to reissue that execution order and Sally only drained half of my blood, so I’d call it a successful venture into the strange and unknown,” Duo said cheerfully, making a show of looking around before he climbed up onto the tray to tear a big chunk of flakey pastry free from his croissant. “Where did our blue eyed grump-master go?”

“Hm, I assume he had some things to do over lunch,” Quatre said, taking a thoughtful sip of his coffee. “We had a talk while you were away.”

Duo eyed the Arabian, taking a moment to devour his handful. He swallowed before talking again. “What kind of talk?”

The blond just smiled sweetly. “Just a talk.”

“Riiight,” Duo said, a little suspicious that it’d been more than a ‘talk.’ He knew Quatre, even if it’d been a while since they’d really been able to talk one on one. The L4 pilot was a freaking force of nature, and that smile looked like it belonged to a cat grooming parakeet feathers from its claws. ‘Just a talk’ his ass.

Of course, speak of the devil, or the soldier, and he arrived. The door swung open behind them and Duo glanced over his shoulder, suddenly tense as Heero stepped into the room. Their eyes met briefly, the Ariette’s teeth digging into his cheek. If soldier boy started in on him again…

But then Heero didn’t. In fact, he didn’t say a word as he looked away and headed back to his desk. Huh. Maybe Quatre really had gotten through to him. Whatever they’d said to each other.

Duo’d just taken another big bite of croissant when Trowa brought a chair over closer to the desk, setting down a legal pad big enough for Duo to build a small apartment on its surface. He swallowed the lump of pastry before looking up at him. He didn’t miss the fact that Trowa’s position just happened to be directly between him and Heero’s seat. “What’s up?”

“What equipment did you bring with you?” Trowa asked, grabbing a pen from his pocket. “Obviously not standard issue.”

“No shit,” Duo said with a snicker, shoulders starting to relax again. “Can you picture me trying to lug around a Preventor glock? ‘Cause I can, and it’s a funny picture.”

The corner of Trowa’s lips twitched upward. So, clown boy had a sense of humor after all. “Understandable. Do you have any weapons powerful enough to stop a full sized human?”

The Ariette grinned. “Dude, you have no idea. Bring me my bag and I’ll show you all my toys.”

By the end of the workday, Trowa had completely filled his pad with notes and mechanical sketches of Duo’s miniature and highly specialized gear. He’d made a lot of it himself, though some of the crazier and pretty damn insidious pieces had come from Howard. Climbing gear, weapons, a tiny cliff tent with hooks that’d deploy and imbed into everything from tree trunks to concrete. It was intended to give him a safe place to sleep away from animals, but he’d used it once against an Alliance soldier that’d gotten his hands on him once. The shock of having a tiny pouch explode with painful hooks had been enough to shock him into dropping Duo so he could escape. Good thing the whole base had gone up before he’d been able to tell anyone, or they’d have had a major secrecy problem.

Well, they’d have had one earlier, anyway.

“I hope you’re not planning on using that tent in Une’s office,” Wufei commented dryly from his desk, listening in halfway. “I doubt she’d approve of the holes it’d make in the walls.”

“Aw, nothing a little spackle couldn’t fix.”

“Une’s office?” Quatre asked, blinking.

Duo nodded. “Yeah, the boss lady said I could stay there until I’ve got something long-term lined up. One of the most secure places in the building or something like that. She’s taking my security pretty damn serious. Better than the labs or the armory, that’s for sure.”

“Oh. You know, you don’t have to stay here” the blond said, giving him a smile. “I’d be happy to host you at my house. There’s plenty of room, and we already have a few families housing in the staff quarters, so you wouldn’t be the only Ariette there.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’m pretty good,” Duo said, shaking his head. “Besides, I’m pretty sure I’d be hella out of place anywhere you call a house. I know your sense of scale.”

Quatre pinked, covering a little cough. “Well, perhaps it’s a little bigger than most people live in. How about I escort you-“

“He’ll stay with me.”

Duo turned around slowly, that smile vanishing from his face as he faced Heero, who’d gone still under that flat stare. “I’ll what now? ‘Cause I could have sworn I just said I’d be staying here at HQ. Or are you giving me orders now?”

So maybe he delighted a little bit in the way Heero shifted in his chair. It could have been called a squirm if it’d been anyone else. The ass deserved it.

“If you want to,” Heero amended, and Duo thought those blue eyes might have flickered just past him to Quatre. Ha. “An offer, not an order.”

“Sure didn’t sound like an offer,” Duo said, eyes narrowed.

Heero huffed, looking away from the tiny man’s stare. “Do you want to or not?”

“Fuck no,” Duo said with a snort, folding his arms over his chest. “You’ve been a royal asshole since I showed back up. I’m not giving you the chance to stick me in a breadbox or something for my ‘protection.’”

“Wha- I wouldn’t!” Heero protested, head whipping back around to stare at him in disbelief.

“You sure haven’t been doing much to show me!” Duo shot back. “So I’m good here, thanks. Now, Cat, what were you saying about an escort?”

Quatre coughed softly. “I was asking if you’d like an escort back to Une’s office.”

Duo gave him a thumbs up, firmly ignoring Heero again as he sulked. “Escort away. Just let me pack up my gear again.”

The whole time he did so, he pointedly didn’t look at Heero, not about to deal with him looking like some kicked puppy when this was all his fault. If he hadn’t started as a huge controlling asshole just because Duo was a little shorter than your average agent, then maybe they could have planned to sit and catch up over coffee after work like actual friends. But no. So he was not going to feel guilty. Nope.


	4. Toy maker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !!!READ THIS!!!  
>  When I was going over the fic to work on this chapter, I realized that I was actually missing a large part of chapter three. I have FIXED that, right before posting this chapter, so you'll want to go back and re-read chapter three before reading this chapter. Sorry! <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!READ THIS!!!  
>  When I was going over the fic to work on this chapter, I realized that I was actually missing a large part of chapter three. I have FIXED that, right before posting this chapter, so you'll want to go back and re-read chapter three before reading this chapter. Sorry! <3

Duo would give it to the former colonel, she did a pretty good job being quiet as she came into the office in the morning. If he’d been human, he might even have slept through it for a while. But you didn’t evolve to be aware of every little sound because almost everything was big enough to eat you and then sleep through the most dangerous predator entering the room.

Besides, he’d been half awake already anyway. Turns out they turned the heat off at night around here, meaning he’d slept like shit. It was almost enough to make him wish he’d taken Heero up on his offer.

Almost.

Sighing, he sat up in his homemade sleeping bag, rubbing his eyes in the dim light that filtered around the edges of the open book Une had set up to give him privacy. Maybe he could ask about the heat later. Or at least a hot plate or something. Shaking his head, he undid his braid to finger comb it tidy before plaiting it again and pulling his outer clothes from the day before back on.

Duo stepped out from behind the book with a big grin on, looking up at the woman. Who hadn’t noticed him yet. “Good morning, pretty lady!” So maybe he took a little bit of pleasure from the way she jumped at his greeting. Just maybe. “Sorry to startle you.”

“It’s fine,” she said, turning in her chair to glance down at him. “Though I would prefer Commander Une as a form of address.”

“And I’d prefer to be taller,” he quipped back cheerfully. “You’re working mighty early.”

Une eyed him in exasperation. “Trials of a leader, I’m afraid. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Ah, no worries. I doubt even Trowa could sneak by me when I’m out. You humans make a lot of noise,” Duo said, waving it away. “Not that that’s a bad thing. We’d have been found earlier if you didn’t. And who knows what could have happened then.”

“Well, you don’t need to tell me that human history hasn’t exactly been pretty,” Une said, shifting in her seat to face her computer again. “Though I would hope that we might have risen to the occasion even then. There is no knowing now, of course.”

“No offense, but I wouldn’t have put money on it,” Duo said with a snort. He stretched, covering up a yawn. Gah, he hated mornings. Always too cold. “By the way, did you know they shut off the heat overnight.”

Une paused. “Ah, yes, I did. But it didn’t occur to me to make the connection. I apologize.”

“I survived,” Duo said, shrugging his shoulders. Now that she knew, he trusted she’d tell someone to adjust it or bring in a heater. Even if they hadn’t exactly been buds during the war, he had to admit that she was freaking attentive to details. “Should get moving anyway. Long walk to the office, and I want to get here before everyone else starts flooding the hallways.”

“I could escort you there,” the woman offered, looking down at him. “Since, as you said, it’s a bit of a distance for an Ariette. I have the time for a brief walk.”

The offer was tempting, to be honest. But… even though he didn’t really think she was going to do anything, Duo kind of wanted the time to think before he had to deal with the others. So he shook his head, giving her another grin. “Na. It’ll be my morning workout. Don’t want to let myself get all out of shape after all and I know the guys are going to want to help me move around everywhere.”

She sighed, nodding her head. “Understood. Get going then. Some of our agents like to arrive early.”

“Gotcha. No worries, Une-babe, I’m not too eager to go through the thunder dome of boots either. Thanks for letting me crash!” Cackling as he dodged the thrown paper ball, Duo ducked into his little ‘camp’ and shoved his stuff back into his bag before slipping out the door that Une opened a crack for him.

Even if there weren’t very many people around, Duo still stuck to the edges of the walls, squeezing between them and anything else set around to decorate the hallways. (Or, possibly, to provide cover in a firefight. Who knew.) If there were a 101 class for being an Ariette, avoiding big open spaces as much as possible would have been part of the orientation. Of course, inventing a shrinking machine would probably need to come first.

Amused by the thought of a bunch of humans having to suddenly try and live like one of them, Duo almost missed Heero’s arrival in the hallway. Almost. It just took him a few seconds longer than it usually did, meaning they spotted each other at about the same time, meeting eyes. Duo was half tempted to duck behind the big pot he’d just emerged from around, but stood his ground, waiting to see what kind of first move their perfect soldier would make.

At least, until Heero decided to take his own sweet time at it, watching Duo without saying anything. Frowning, he was about to open his mouth when he noticed a couple of things. First, Heero looked like shit. Someone obviously outside him in terms of crappy sleep. Which really might explain the two big cups of coffee he had his hands full with.

Duo raised an eyebrow. “Late night?”

“I had some things on my mind,” Heero said with a little nod. “I… I brought you coffee. To apologize for yesterday.”

He brought him coffee. Duo’s eyes wandered back down to the second massive coffee cup in his old comrade’s hands. The cup that was apparently for him.

At first, it was just a little sound that escaped the equally small figure. Then a snort, and a snicker, before Duo burst out laughing. Heero stared at him, not quite sure if he should be offended or not, at least until he saw the grin on Duo’s face. “What?”

“Ro, buddy, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I could freaking swim in that thing!”

Slowly, the L1 pilot looked down at the cups he held, mentally comparing Duo’s size to them. And the blood rushed up into his cheeks as he realized that the other man was right. So wrapped up and distracted, it hadn’t even occurred to him that Duo, an Ariette, would never be able to finish a cup before it went bad. He’d messed up, again.

But Duo was laughing, so maybe not too badly this time.

“Long time since I’ve managed to make you blush,” Duo added, shoving his hands into his pockets as he leaned back to get an easier view up at him. “And never in person. Okay, here’s the deal. Dip me out some in my cup once we get to the office, and I’ll give you another chance since you apologized. Deal?”

Feeling a wash of relief, Heero smiled. “Deal. Would you… would you like a ride the rest of the way to the office? If you were going there right away, that is.”

“You know, that sounds like a fine idea,” Duo said with a cheeky grin. “But I think your hands look a little full, and I don’t want you to have to put perfectly good coffee on the floor.”

Hm, Duo had a point. But Heero was nothing if not stubborn. Taking a step back, he carefully kneeled down and rested a hand on the floor, fingers still under the cup. Loophole. “Climb on. You can make it to my shoulder, right?”

The Ariette rolled his eyes. Of course Heero would go for the loophole. But it wasn’t like he could really be mad this time. Especially with the improvement from yesterday. “Who do you think you’re talking to? Cake walk. Just make sure you don’t move until I’m ready.”

Heero nodded his head and stayed absolutely still, barely daring to breathe as Duo walked up to him. The tiny man felt like there was barely anything to him as he pulled himself up onto Heero’s hand, climbing around the warm cup and onto the cuff of his uniform jacket. Heero worried that the cloth might move and make Duo slip, but he’d obviously accounted for that because his path up the arm was steady and quick.

“I think I know what the beanstalk must have felt like now,” he said with a little smirk, mentally crossing his fingers that he’d read Duo’s sense of humor right. He’d always made similar jokes before, when the comm was quiet. But that had been a different era for them.

Duo took a moment to stare at him before snickering. “Better than the giant. My bones wouldn’t make much bread. Glad to see I’m rubbing off on you.” Grinning, he scrambled up the rest of the way to Heero’s shoulder, plunking down right against his neck where he could hold onto his uniform shirt. “Okay, I’m ready. Giddey up!”

Heero snorted, rising as smoothly as he could until he was upright to make sure he didn’t knock Duo off. He didn’t know how far it was safe for an Ariette to fall and did NOT want to be the one testing it. Especially not on Duo. “Am I your horse now?”

“Yep. My pretty blue-eyed pony,” Duo said playfully, patting his neck.

While Heero didn’t respond to the touch, he couldn’t ignore the way it made his goosebumps stand up. There was something about that light, barely there touch, reminding Heero that Duo was actually the first Ariette he’d ever touched. They’d run a few rescues before, but frightened people rarely went to someone like him when Quatre was there with kinder eyes and gentler words. In contrast, he was very well aware of the fact that he could be intimidating.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. And yet, Duo wasn’t afraid of him.

They were the first to get to the office, somewhat unsurprisingly. Quatre usually had some Winner Corp business to handle first thing in the morning, Wufei had his early training, and Trowa… did whatever he did. Maybe slept like a sane person. Or watched big cat videos. Who knew.

Heero set the cups down on the desk and puzzled over what to do about Duo. The temptation was to just let him sit up there on his shoulder until he asked to get down. It was an appealing thought. But he also worried about knocking the Ariette down if he got too comfortable and moved wrong.

Thankfully, Duo took the matter into his own hands sooner than later. “Lift me down, will ya? You still owe me that coffee. I’ll get my cup out of my bag.”

“Trowa mentioned that you had rather extensive gear,” Heero said, bringing a hand up to offer an open palm to the tiny man. He held it as steady as he could as Duo climbed over onto his hand. Slowly, Heero lowered it down to the surface of the desk so he could get off.

Stepping down, Duo glanced up at him. “Yeah? What else did he say about it?” Pulling his bag off his shoulder, he opened it up and dug out a perfect, miniature metal cup and held it up to Heero.

“He shared some of the notes he made,” Heero said, delicately taking the cup. Pulling the lid off one of the coffees, he used the cup’s handle to dip out a portion, drying the outside before offering it back to Duo, hoping it wouldn’t get too cold too quickly. A small amount of liquid in a room temperature metal container wasn’t exactly heat efficient. “They looked like they were well built.”

“I’m hearing a but there, buddy,” Duo said, eyeballing him.

Heero put his briefcase on the desk next to him, opening it up to pull out a few small boxes. “But I thought a couple of them could be improved further. To make them lighter and easier to use among other things.”

The other pilot stared at the boxes before turning his gaze up to Heero. “Ro… tell me you slept last night and didn’t spend the whole night tinkering on machines me to make a bunch of stuff.”

“I slept some?”

Duo sighed. At last Heero had the sense to look embarrassed about it. And frankly, it was sweet. “Alright, let’s see what you made.”

Slowly, Heero smiled. And wasn’t that just a miracle and a half on its own. Thankfully, he also went on to start opening boxes, so Duo had a nice distraction from the flock of butterflies in his stomach.

Especially when the first thing to come out was so obviously a weapon, catching his attention immediately, fingers itching to touch.

“Six explosive rounds to maximize damage without compromising weight or compactness,” Heero explained, taking out a pair of sharp tweezers to over the thing with Duo. “Can be fired individually or set off as a unit to make an emergency throw-able charge. Red secondary clip has twenty-five beacons to latch onto the walls. Every fifth after the first is more powerful than the others, so we can pick it up from up to forty miles away. The others are smaller and only have a mile range, but can pinpoint your location.”

“Bread crumbs,” Duo summed up, nodding. “Worried about me getting stuffed into someone’s pocket and carried away, Ro?”

Heero snorted. “That is this target’s specialty, from what we’ve seen. Which brings me to the next one.” He pulled out another small device, obviously meant to be throwable. “Taser and homing device. When triggered, it sends out a panic signal. This one’s programmed to send a message to us with your location, but the receiver can be altered as needed for other users.”

Duo looked at the little taser, swallowing. “You’re saying for Ariette folks at large.”

“Quatre and I have been working on it for a bit,” Heero said with a small nod, watching Duo’s reaction. “We haven’t had anyone to test the prototype for us yet and can’t put them out for mass production until we know it’s as easy and effective as we can make it.”

“And a programmable beacon means the signal can go out to someone they trust, instead of right to the Preventers,” Duo thought out loud. Not everyone trusted the armed and well-trained group of humans after all. He looked up at Heero. “How long have you been working on this?”

“We started brainstorming around the time of the first bust,” Heero said, busy opening another small case. That first bust of Ariette, of people being sold like pets, had been when everyone had really realized just how vulnerable these people were. And if they could give them even a small way of defending themselves and calling for help? It was more than worth the time and expense. Heero glanced down at Duo, noting that his cup was empty even as he saw the slow smile. “Do you want a refill?”

“Wha- Oh, yeah, sure,” Duo said, holding his empty cup up. “Thanks. And thanks for thinking about that kind of thing even before I showed up.”

Heero nodded, accepting the thanks without commentary. Instead, he filled the cup again before handing it back, followed by the next took. This one was merely an improvement on the climbing gear Duo had already shown Trowa, but Heero had paid attention to the little notes about Duo’s complaints about the device. “This should be more secure. The hook will release on a remote signal from the handled end, and I’ve included a longer line, reinforced near the hook end to guard against wear from rubbing across corners.”

“Self-disengaging, huh? You know, I’ve been trying to figure that bit out for ages. Went through a ton of hooks and line in the war because I had to cut the launcher free all the time,” the tiny pilot said, looking the thing over. He’d have to test it out himself before he depended on it for a mission of course, but Heero would know that too. “Mind if I look at the blueprints a little later? I like knowing how my stuff works so I can fix it.”

“I’ll send you the files,” Heero said with a headshake. He didn’t mind. While he’d had the reflex to just keep and protect his former partner, he’d had time to think. And enabling Duo to be self-sufficient would keep him safe more than Heero could without bundling him in cotton and keeping him locked away. Which he knew he couldn’t do. “You like them so far?”

Duo would have laughed if it weren’t for the nervous anticipation in the other man’s face. Heero was worried about his response. Still. Oh Heero. Duo had to shake his head at the other’s worry, walking closer to him and patting his big hand. “Like them, Ro? I love them. They’re freaking fantastic.” He grinned up at him. “All I need now is a mini space heater. Une’s office turns into a freaking ice box at night.”

When Heero abruptly opened his mouth to say something, only to snap it shut without speaking, Duo had a pretty good idea of what he’d cut himself off from saying. And, well, considering yesterday, Duo couldn’t blame him.

“Yeah?” he asked, head tilted to the side as he studied him, trying to subtly guide Heero to continue. “Something you were thinking about?”

Heero cleared his throat, glancing to the side. “I was- My offer from yesterday is still open, if you want. I won’t trap you again. I promise.”

Yep, he’d been right. Duo chewed on the thought, trying to figure the other guy out. Easier said than done. Sure, he knew that Heero wouldn’t hurt him. Of course, keeping him contained and safe might not count as hurting to some folk. But… But even after their bumpy reunion, he trusted Heero. And he’d promised.

The Ariette let out an exasperated sigh. “Bout time you asked me properly, buddy. Hope you don’t snore too loud. Little guys like me need to sleep too. But long as you play nice, you’ve got yourself a roommate.”


End file.
